Mickey T.C. Wu
George Baker Professor of Economics and Business Administration
Education
B.A., Berea College
M.A., Ph.D., Univeristy of Kentucky
What research or projects are you currently working on with Coe students?
I am working with three students: Nicki Thiher (senior) is measuring the impact of colonialism on economic development. Nicki presented part of her research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in 2009 and has another paper accepted for presentation at the NCUR in April 2010. Nicki participated in the Spellman Summer Research Workshop in 2008 and 2009. Bibek Adhikari (junior) is using the Frankel-Wei approach to estimating weights for currency baskets for emerging nations. Scott DeAngelis (sophomore) is starting to examine the economics of professional sports. Scott will participate in the Spellman Summer Research along with Bibek this summer (2010).
What is your favorite class to teach and why?
Given all that is going on in the world economy, I'd have to say that my current favorite course to teach is Principles of Macroeconomics.....helps students to sort out the sense and nonsense in current economic commentary in the media.
Name your most memorable Coe concert, performance, lecture or program and what it meant to you.
If you include athletic performance as part of the question, then without a doubt, the 1997 IIAC Women's Soccer Championship game between Coe and Luther at Luther. We were clearly the underdogs. For the season our team only had 15 players: 9 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 2 juniors, and 2 seniors. For the championship game we were without our starting senior captain goalkeeper (injured in the semi-final game), our other senior captain could not play because she had to be in Iowa City to take her GREs. Our goalkeeper (a freshman) for the game had not played in goal all season and a total of 7 freshmen started the game. We came from one goal down to beat Luther 2-1 to become the first Coe team to win an IIAC championship. Shows what can be accomplished when a team plays hard, plays smart, and plays together.
Who is playing on your iPod?
Musically, I'm forever thankful that I'm a child of the 60s. Professor Hayes says that I'm stuck there but who cares when I can listen to the music of the Straydogs(Singapore), Clapton, Dylan, Hendrix, Winwood, Them, and the various incarnations of John Mayall and the Bluesbrakers.
What book are you currently reading?
Given all that is going on in the economy, I'm starting to re-read Paul Krugman's Return of Depression Economics.
What do you do outside of class?
In the words of Sir Alex Ferguson: "Football, Bloody Hell."
What does teaching at Coe mean to you?
I'm always mindful of the great teaching tradition that Professors Carrithers and Spellman established when they were at Coe. Means that I shouldn't mess it up.
What is your favorite thing about Coe?
The Spellman Summer Research workshop in our department provides us an opportunity to work on research projects with students without the distractions of a normal semester. It's a great opportunity to get to know the students.
What is your favorite Coe tradition?
There is a sort of overlapping generations tradition in our department: Former students doing everything they can to help out current students. That's priceless!
What advice would you give a prospective student?
Two pieces of "advice":
- In the slightly modified words of the great philosopher Bob Dylan: Beware of people who talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, and draw conclusions on the wall.
- Manchester United is the best football club in the world.
